


The Past Life Job

by ThatPilotGirl



Series: The Old Guard provides...Leverage [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Continued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatPilotGirl/pseuds/ThatPilotGirl
Summary: The old guard...ahem...leverage team is back taking down a skeezy businessman looking for an insurance payout. But the job is complicated by the client's history with Nile, and by a new player's history with Andy
Series: The Old Guard provides...Leverage [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925197
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	The Past Life Job

**Author's Note:**

> The two-horse job episode of leverage was originally supposed to be the 7th episode of Leverage, not the 3rd like it was in broadcast order, which makes more send with how much the team's relationship has developed. (and there's a line in a later broadcast-order episode that doesn't make sense because they chose to show two-horse job so early.)  
> ANYWAYS the point is that by this con the team has pulled half a dozen jobs together so they've settled in to a decent working groove, and are starting to get their personally.
> 
> OH, also that i don't own leverage or the old guard

Isaac pulled up to the burning barn in eastern Illinois as fast as he possibly could, hollering for his mother. She came pelting out of the barn at top speed, a single horse galloping in front of her while the others screamed. No sooner had the two of them come out did a support beam collapse, and the entire structure began to fall. Isaac flung his arms around his mother, and together they watched the building burn as the fire trucks arrived. It didn't matter. There was nothing they could so.

* * *

"Nine dead," Ms. Freeman told Andy, while Nile gazed at the photos on the walls. "The Freemans have been training horses since before the Civil War. It's how we became the Freemans."

"Oh?"

"Someone discovered an ancestor had a knack for horses. He got paid to train them, and eventually was able to buy his freedom. Moved up here from the South and was able to make a living at it"

"But your family has never actually owned the horses?"

"No, none of the trainers do. We take care of them, but owning them is a...it's a rich man's game." Ms. Freeman explained. "I would have loved to though. That's why when this Mr. Keane came to town and offered me 10%, I was thrilled. It's been six months, and the horses haven't been running the way he expected, so..."

"He burned nine horses to get his investment back" Nile finished.

"And now he's running around blaming me for it. Keane will waltz right back into the business, which is dangerous for everyone involved. Meanwhile, I've lost my stable, my reputation, everything. Plenty of people have been unhappy with us in this business right from the start and we've weathered every storm so far. But this..."

"We can weather this one too. Without her." Said a new voice, entering the office from the door behind Mrs. Freeman's desk.

"Isaac..." Nile breathed, the word leaving her body in a rush.

"You haven't talked to us in eight fucking years. Don't 'Isaac' me." he replied, exiting the way he came and punctuating his sentence with a slam of the door.

Mrs. Freeman excused herself and followed. Andy turned to Nile.

"So when you said you knew the family, you meant..."

"They're my family." Nile confirmed. "Aduke is my father's sister."

"Are you gonna be able to handle this?"

Nile gave a salute, and Andy didn't bother pointing out that it was done with the wrong hand.

* * *

"Keane is a hedge fund manager, based out of New York" Booker started, showing pictures of the man on the office's TV screens."$40 million in the last two years, he's been spending it on poker and horses. Now, I should warn y'all that I have a bit of a sore throat, and might need to sit this one out to stop things from getting any worse."

"Book, why are you whining?" Andy demanded while aborting Joe's attempt to stand and feel Booker's forehead.

"I just...don't like horses"

"Well, we'll deal with that when we get there. Moving on." Nile bit off decisively.

"You are invested in this one, aren't you?" Joe observed.

"Of course I am, it's my fucking-"

"SHALL we get back to the briefing" Andy interrupted, but before Booker could do so it was Nicky's turn to pipe up.

"Copely security seems to be company who takes care of all of Mr. Keane's affairs."

"That gonna be a problem?" Joes asked, picking up Nicky's thread.

Andy shrugged.

"Our mission here," Booker declared, bringing everyone back on track at last, "is to get Rodin, Keane's last surviving horse, into Aduke's hands thereby getting Keane out of the business as requested. Now, Rodin has three wins and two places, and he's insured for $200,000. So. How do we get the damn horse?"

"Let's start with what we know. For example: What does Keane's schedule look like?"

"According to his online calendar, he's going to a big race this weekend."

"Hey Joe?" Any asked.

He tilted his head.

"How's your Sheik these days?"

* * *

Joe strode through the lobby in a sharp suit and keffiyah, greeting everyone he saw in a deep, Brittish-accented voice. He posted up at the bar next to Keane, and ordered a bourbon while the man was belittling a server. Keane glanced over.

"Thought you people didn't drink?"

"I have found an occasional break from tradition to be refreshing. Mr...?"

"Keane. And you are?"

"Sheik Mansour Khalid. Though my school friends call me Manny."

"Oxford?"

"Cambridge. Family tradition."

"So what brings you to the track?"

While Joe kept Keane occupied with the story of how his family was getting into the horse business in the US, Nicky snagged his wallet so Booker could run a credit check. Meanwhile, Nile and Andy got the poker table set up. Booker himself waited the next room over while Nicky got the wallet back to Joe. It didn't take much for Joe to bait Keane into joining the game, so when the race finished they headed to the back room where the table was arranged.

Joe got everyone around the table introduced to Keane, including Andy as "the best trainer in town."

"And THAT's why I've got 'er" Booker announced, bursting into the room with glass in hand.

A little game of poke-the-bear for Booker to goad Keane about the lost horses and the game was on. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Keane to try to offer his watch as collateral. The rest of the table made an uproar about in, and Keane wrote out a deed for Rodin on a spare napkin. Perfect. It was practically a walk in the park to get Booker the four Jacks to win the game (if the alcohol on his breath was a bit more present than it needed to be for the roll that was a problem for another time), and if a little whining from Keane was all it took to get the horse, that was a good day's work.

* * *

That evening, Andy was headed to meet the others when a sleek black vehicle pulled up beside her.

"Hello Andromache," came a familiar voice.

"Hello Quynh."

"What are you doing playing poker with my client, darling?"

"Keane is your client. They must have given you my old job, dear."

"They gave me your old office, sweetheart. Desk chair included."

"As I recall, you preferred the desk. So what? You're investigating the fire for Copely?"

"I am. And why is an ex-security specialist playing poker with a participant in a recent security scandal?"

"Local cops think the fire was an accident."

"Local cops don't have to write a check for almost two million because their cameras were mysteriously out. Now. You're playing some fun little game aren't you? You're going to try to prove Keane was the one to take out the cameras, and to set the fire. You're going to try for your old job back."

"...You got me. I'll pack it in."

"Hmmm...but Keane has so much protection. Maybe I'll try Aduke Freeman for the incident."

"Aduke Freeman is an innocent woman."

"Andy, honey, you and I both know it's not about who's innocent. It's just about who pays."

Joe came around the corner then, driving a canary yellow convertible with Nicky in the shotgun seat.

"Quynh."

"Joe."

Quynh gave Andy one more once over before rolling up the window and driving on. Andy climbed into the passenger seat, while Nicky asked: "Was that who I think it was?"

* * *

The next morning, they all met back at the racetrack.

"Is is true Quynh once spent three days In the trunk of a car to catch someone?"

"It was five." Nicky replied.

"How do..oh" Andy cut herself off as she realized the obvious answer.

"We're not saying she's better than you, Andy," Joe took over. "But we need to get out of here. Now."

"Too late. Q thinks I'm trying to get my job back, she doesn't care about the security checkup any more."

"Q huh? So it's true you two-"

"What's true is that whatever I do, she'll aim for the opposite."

"So you're saying we're screwed. Fucking great." Nile chimed in.

"No, I'm saying things just got a little more complicated. We should still be able to tackle both problems. We're gonna need Joe to get Keane back here, and Nicky can run interference on Quynh. Don't get caught. She never saw your face in the car, but if she sees it now, she'll get suspicious. Nile, we need a stable."

They scattered.

* * *

In the afternoon, Isaac led Nile and Andy through "Nile's" stable, explaining the ins and outs of owner/trainer relationships to Andy. Any time Nile tried to help, she was abruptly cut off. When he had finished the explanation, and answered all of Andy's questions, he finally turned to Nile.

"Anything else you need so you can go back to being nothing more than a heartbreaking memory?"

"I thought we were ok for this?"

"I thought you were coming back in three weeks."

Meanwhile at the track, Nicky attempted to stall Quynh by messing with her car, but she quickly cut that idea off at the knees when she called the police on him.

Thankfully, it did buy Booker enough time to further piss Keane off, and when Booker left, Nile was up.

"Remember Nile, poker face," Any murmured through the earpiece. "You did it at the game and you can do it now."

"How do you even work for that guy?"

"He's more of a jackass than usual this week. Something about some huge fucking deal. You people are all the same like that."

"Us people huh? Well for your information, I am nothing like him. My investment buddies from New York? Yeah. We're going to start making investment portfolios for horses instead of stocks. That fucker won't know what him. So you can either stop being a mouthy little bitch and help me out here, or you can go down with your buddy."

The next thing Keane knew, there was a hoofpick in his shoulder and Nile was out the door.

* * *

Isaac found her curled in the corner of an empty stall. She braced herself for a torrent of fury, but his voice was soft.

"Things aren't getting better Nile River."

"I know they're not Aye-Aye. I know I promised I was gonna fix this for you. And we are, I swear. But I just made things a whole lot worse."

"Doesn't get much worse than no calls for almost 10 years. How could you do that to us? We were the only family you had left."

"I thought I was doing right. I thought if I joined the Marines, I could send back some extra cash. You were always talking about renovating and updating, and I was never as good a trainer as you. Seemed like a good way to help out."

By this point he was sitting on the floor next to her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He stroked his hands through her hair.

"We could have done without extra cash. It was harder doing without you for weeks and months on end. Even when you were here, you weren't really with us."

"I'm sorry Aye-Aye. I was wrong."

"Yeah. You were. So how are you gonna make things right?"

* * *

"The Greatest Horse That Ever Lived" Andy announced when they gathered at the track the next day.

"No such thing as a great horse. Isn't even such thing as a good horse." Booker protested, but Andy spoke over him.

"We'll use the Lost Heir scam as our base, but instead of pretending one of us is the lost heir to some duke or earl, we're gonna make up the world's greatest bloodline for this horse. All we have to do is convince Keane to buy him, which shouldn't be too hard all things considered. He's desperate for a winner."

"What horse are we gonna use?"

"Rodin." Joe answered. "Poetic justice."

"Aight, as long as I don't have to deal with any of it directly. Now, I'm already hacked into the IFHA website, so all I have to do is come up with a perfect fake bloodline. The database is linked to a microchip in the horse's neck. When Keane scans Rodin, it will link him to the fake."

"This isn't gonna work you guys." Nile pointed out. "Rodin's lungs are still messed up from the fire. Keane will notice how slow he is. We need to steal an actual champion to pull this off."

"Can any of Aduke and Isaac's friends help?"

Nile snorted. "Absolutely not. A stable is one thing, but no one is going to let a rival trainer 'just borrow' a top-tier horse."

"OK, so we're going to steal a championship horse, to fake a different championship horse. I like it. After Nile's little outburst though, we can't have her anywhere near Keane again. So. I'm going to steal the horse, get him to our track. Nicky's going to find us some sellers. Chinese. We'll use the Chinese government's 600-horse cull back in '05 to set up the backstory, make like our horse got smuggled out just before the crackdown. Keep an eye out for Q-Quynh. Booker, you're already set up as a rival buyer. Joe, you can keep dealing directly with Keane. You're interested in buying the horse, but Booker has already offered more than you can afford. You're looking for partners. Booker will find out how much he's got to offer. Any questions?"

"What will I do then?" Nile asked.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find something."

* * *

Getting everyone to the track had been a bit of a hassle. Andy wasn't quite the smooth talker that Joe was, so getting their championship horse's trainer lured away had been a bit of an issue. Meanwhile, their fake sellers apparently had bowel problems, so it had taken Nicky longer than expected to get them to the barn. However, once everyone arrived at the stable, the introductions and faking the horse's bloodline had gone off without a hitch. Not bad for a days work, Andy thought, kicking back in her borrowed office with a martini.

She had just taken a sip when the door opened.

"Couldn't believe it at first." Quynh observed archly. "But you did screw yourself out of a job. Lost the house, lost everything."

"Well, you're here now. Do you have a point?"

"You crossed the line. You're playing for the other side now. Nothing more than a common criminal."

"Common? That's just hurtful sweetheart."

Quynh sat in the chair across from Andy's, and pulled her feet up into Andy's lap. For her part, Andy kept her feet on the floor and her hands on her glass and the arm of her seat.

"Talked to Keane just now. Wanna know what I said?"

"Nah. You wouldn't be here talking to me if you had proof he took out the cameras and started the fire."

Something in Quynh's face softened.

"This is the first time I've seen you in a year Andromache. Do you truly believe I haven't missed you a bit?"

"You never reached out."

"I wasn't the one who dropped off the map!"

"You could have looked!"

"You shouldn't have made me have to!" Quynh's feet hit the floor and she rose. "Whatever this is, Andy, it isn't going to end well for you. Not because of any stupid, personal, petty reason. Unlike you, I'm capable of tuning out the distractions and focusing on what actually matters."

The door slammed shut behind her.

* * *

Andy slept badly after her conversation with Quynh, and her mood isn't improved by Booker when they meet up in the morning. He smells strongly of booze, and he brings unhappy tidings.

"There's no way to fake the numbers on that chip"

"I thought you DID fake the numbers on that chip"

"No, I faked the database information. Faking the numbers on the chip itself would require putting a new chip into the horse's neck. I have already gotten far too close to those beasts this week, I am not doing that. If we give Keane a different horse than we did yesterday, he's going to know."

"So we need to make sure we have the same horse as we did yesterday."

"One problem." Nile stated, joining the rest of them with Isaac at her side.

"Apparently, he's been taken to the stud farm. He's gone."

"Fuck. Keane isn't going to write a check for an empty trailer." Nicky replied. "We're gonna have to stall him aren't we?"

"Yep."

"No. No way. Quynh will catch on and Keane will get cold feet if we string them along. We need to do something right now." Nile protested.

"I am not risking the rest of the team because you have something to prove."

"Just because you fucked up your family doesn't mean I'm going to lose the chance to fix mine!"

Andy probably would have said something very ugly just then had Joe not stepped in.

"Andy, you're trying to prove something to Quynh right now. Hell, you're trying to prove something every time we pull one of these jobs. Get off your high horse. We can make this work."

"Who are you trying to prove something to then?"

This time it was Nicky who played peacemaker.

"We change together. For better or for worse."

Andy glanced between them, and something hurt flashed across her face. She nodded abruptly.

"I'm still pulling the plug if it gets to close."

* * *

"OK, so I'm going in through the air duct and letting you in from the inside, right?" Nicky confirmed as they gt to the stud farm.

"Yep. Back office should have a decently wide opening. They usually try to keep those well ventilated; the smell can get to be a bit much over the summer." Isaac confirmed.

"Can't you just hack it?" Nile asked Booker.

"Hack a padlock? Seriously?"

"I'm heading in" Nicky declared, cutting off the bickering.

He crawled through the air ducts with ease, dropping in to the back office as Isaac had instructed, and then let the rest of them in. Isaac led the three of them to the stall where "their" horse was being kept. Quickly, they lead the thoroughbred out and into the trailer. Before they closed it though, Booker spoke.

"Hold up."

"Booker we do not have time to hold up." Nile hissed.

Booker ignored her, slowly reaching a hand out to stroke the horse's nose.

"Booker we gotta go!"

He nodded and stepped back, and the four of them piled back into the truck and headed for the barn.

* * *

At the stable, Joe had gotten Keane to the stall where their fake horse apparently lived, buying time by walking him a circuitous path through the stables. Keane had blathered about his security specialist who would be joining them, and his investors who were just so excited, and Joe had kept his most pleasant face on the entire time, occasionally mentioning being excited to join their group.

Unfortunately, news of another flaw came in through the earbuds just as Joe checked in with Andy under guise of "checking on the truck."

A crash on the road had delayed the trailer with the team, Isaac, and the horse stuck behind. For a cherry on top, the cops had just arrived.

"Fuck this." Nile declared, flinging herself out of the shotgun seat.

Not two minutes later she was flying down the road on horseback. Bareback.

Andy sighed deeply as Booker texted her a picture.

"Guess we're still on. OK. Nile, you're going to swing off the horse as soon as you get here and I'll take the reins. Let's make this work."

There was a tense two minutes on coms while Nile galloped the last stretch to the property's gates. Joe collected Keane, and they met Andy, leading the horse by the reins, at the trailer they had pre-ordered. One more check of the IFHA number and Keane was sending 12 million dollars their way. Now came the hard part. Andy brought "their" horse into a stall, and then she, Joe, and Keane walked outside to meet Quynh and the investors.

Right at the door to that stable Quynh stopped, pointing at the overhead cameras.

"Those are not up to regulation. We're going to have to swap those out to provide proper coverage."

"Alright," Keane declared, in a good mood now that he had something to show for his money.

Quynh continued to point out flaws in the barns security as they walked down the aisle of the barn. Keane was clearly getting irritated, but her let her go on until she reached her final sentence.

"Also, the horse in that stall certainly isn't some lost heir of Secretariat. That is Kentucky Thunder."

"Ooooh, that's his name," Nicky said through the coms, delighted.

"I mean..." Nile responded.

"I know, I know. But hey. Kentucky Thunder. Not bad. Sound like a heavy metal band."

"That horse is most certainly not Kentucky Thunder" Keane protested, sliding open the stall door.

"I agree!" said the horse's trainer, who was with Keane's party.

Evidently, he had gone to the man after Nile's outburst earlier in the week.

"Of course it isn't Kentucky Thunder. He doesn't even have a proper name yet." Keane chuckled, handing the paperwork to Quynh.

The woman was pulling out her scanner, which gave her a different microchip code than Keane had gotten earlier. He tried his then, with the same result. Quynh looked over the information from the IFHA website.

"This is Rodin." She announced to the crowd of displeased investors.

"What is going on here Keane?" One of them demanded.

"I lost Rodin in a poker game" Keane protested.

"Well, you just bought him back. And tried to insure him for 12 million dollars, while he was only insured for $200,000 in your previous claim. Now I'm no insurance agent, but that sound like a scam to me. And if it was a scam, then Copely Security doesn't have to give you anything. You do, I think, have to give your investors an explanation though."

"What he has to give us is the 10 million" another investor declared as Quynh pushed her way out of the huddle.

"It's all I have left!"

"We'll settle for that."

* * *

They gave the 12 million, and the napkin with the deed for Rodin, to Aduke Freeman the next morning before heading back to the city. Before they did, Nile had one more talk with Isaac and Aduke.

"You were never gonna settle down were you honey?" Aduke asked.

Nile shook her head.

"You found a family though," Isaac said, hushing away Nile's protests.

"You are still my family." She said, when he did let her speak.

"Keep in touch?" Isaac asked.

"I'll try. I will."

She hugged them both tight before exiting the office.

* * *

When they had returned to the office and the others had gone home, Andy once again poured herself a martini and was once again interrupted. Not a word or even a sound, just her sixth sense telling her someone very specific was nearby.

"Nice move getting our sellers to collect photo evidence for you." She said.

"You got sloppy. Should have kept an eye on her at all times instead of giving her bathroom breaks every 20 minutes. Besides, it was a lovely move bringing Kentucky Thunder's trainer to the barn. Too bad it made you look like an idiot."

"How was I supposed to know you would switch the horses at the last minute? Anyways, it helped you out."

Quynh's hands landed on Andy's shoulders, massaging away the stress.

"It did. You're welcome for having Keane sign the paperwork by the way. Insurance fraud takes onus off of the security company."

"So it does." Quynh's hands hesitated; Andy's shoulders shifted and they resumed their work.

"I'm sorry about what happened at Copely. But suffering doesn't make you a hero."

Andy bit back her first response. Instead: "I never claimed to be. I'm just picking up where more conventional means of justice leave off."

"Very poetic. This is still my job, love, and one that I'm good at. I miss you but that's not going to stop me from doing it."

Quynh placed a kiss on the crown of Andy's head, and Andy hummed. Then Quynh was gone, leaving Andy alone with her martini and her thoughts.


End file.
